MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (AP) - British Petroleum once downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst U.S. oil spill in decades along the Gulf Coast and endangering shoreline habitat.

In its 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well, BP suggested it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals.

At least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled so far since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers, according to Coast Guard estimates. One expert said Friday that the volume of oil leaking from the well nearly 5,000 feet below the surface could actually be much higher, and that even more may escape if the drilling equipment continues to erode.

"The sort of occurrence that we've seen on the Deepwater Horizon is clearly unprecedented," BP spokesman David Nicholas told The Associated Press on Friday. "It's something that we have not experienced before ... a blowout at this depth."

Amid increased fingerpointing Friday, efforts sputtered to hold back the giant oil spill seeping into Louisiana's rich fishing grounds and nesting areas, while the government desperately cast about for new ideas for dealing with the growing environmental crisis. President Barack Obama halted any new offshore drilling projects unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent another disaster.

The seas were too rough and the winds too strong to burn off the oil, suck it up effectively with skimmer vessels, or hold it in check with the miles of orange and yellow inflatable booms strung along the coast.

The floating barriers broke loose in the choppy water, and waves sent oily water lapping over them.

"It just can't take the wave action," said Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish.

The spill - a slick more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide - threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation's most abundant sources of seafood. Louisiana closed some fishing grounds and oyster beds because of the risk of oil contamination.

BP's 52-page exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, says repeatedly that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."

And while the company conceded that a spill would impact beaches, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, it argued that "due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."

Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs, Miss.-based environmental lawyer and board member for the Gulf Restoration Network, said he doesn't see anything in the document that suggests BP addressed the kind of technology needed to control a spill at that depth of water.

"The point is, if you're going to be drilling in 5,000 feet of water for oil, you should have the ability to control what you're doing," he said.

Although the cause of the explosion was under investigation, many of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the wake of the explosion claim it was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped the well - a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied it.

According to a 2007 study by the federal Minerals Management Service, which examined the 39 rig blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico between 1992 and 2006, cementing was a contributing factor in 18 of the incidents. In all the cases, gas seepage occurred during or after cementing of the well casing, the MMS said.

While the amount of oil in the gulf already threatened to make it the worst U.S. oil disaster since the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989, one expert emphasized that it was impossible to know just how much oil had already escaped and that it could be much more than what BP and the Coast Guard have said.

Even at current estimates, the spill could surpass that of the Valdez - which leaked 11 million gallons - in just two months.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University, said estimates from both Coast Guard charts and satellite images indicate that 8 million to 9 million gallons had spilled by April 28.

"I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's less oil out there than that. But that's what I get when I apply the numbers," he said.

Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry brushed off such estimates that suggested the rate of the leak was five times larger than official estimates.

"I would caution you not to get fixated on an estimate of how much is out there," Landry said. "The most important thing is from Day One we stood corralling resources from a worst-case scenario working back."

Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production, said it's impossible to measure the flow. But he said remote cameras show the rate doesn't appear to have changed since the leak was discovered.

"This is highly imprecise, highly imprecise," Suttles said. "We continue to respond to a much more significant case so that we're prepared for that in the eventuality that the rate is higher."

As of Friday, only a sheen of oil from the edges of the slick was washing up at Venice, La., and other extreme southeastern portions of Louisiana. But several miles out, the normally blue-green gulf waters were dotted with sticky, pea- to quarter-sized brown beads with the consistency of tar.

High seas were in the forecast through Sunday and could push oil deep into the inlets, ponds, creeks and lakes that line the boot of southeastern Louisiana. With the wind blowing from the south, the mess could reach the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts by Monday.

In Louisiana, officials opened gates in the Mississippi River hoping a flood of fresh water would drive oil away from the coast. But winds thwarted that plan, too.

For days, crews have struggled without success to activate the well's underwater shutoff valve using remotely operated vehicles. They are also drilling a relief well in hopes of injecting mud and concrete to seal off the leak, but that could take three months.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he has pressed BP to work more efficiently to clean the spill and has pledged that "those responsible will be held accountable." President Barack Obama has ordered Salazar to report to him within 30 days on what new technology is needed to tighten safeguards against deepwater drilling spills.

With the government and BP running out of options, Salazar has invited other companies to bring their expertise to the table.

BP likewise sought ideas from some of its rivals and was using at least one of them Friday - applying chemicals underwater to break up the oil before it reaches the surface. That has never been attempted at such depths.

Animal rescue operations have ramped up, including the one at Fort Jackson, about 70 miles southeast of New Orleans. That rescue crew had its first patient Friday, a bird covered in thick, black oil. The bird, a young northern gannet found offshore, is normally white with a yellow head.

And volunteers have converged on the coast to offer help.

Valerie Gonsoulin, a 51-year-old kayaker from Lafayette who wore an "America's Wetlands" hat, said she hoped to help spread containment booms.

"I go out in the marshes three times a week. It's my peace and serenity," she said. "I'm horrified. I've been sitting here watching that NASA image grow, and it grows. I knew it would hit every place I fish and love."

Seven more banks failed today. Oil spill looks bad. Another oil platform capsized. Situation in The Eurozone does not look good. Germans seem to think THEY are "virtuous", and those Mediterranean folks are not.

Good thing the UK kept their own currency - otherwise they would be in more trouble than they are now

Frontier Bank, Everett, Washington, was closed today by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Union Bank, National Association, San Francisco, California, to assume all of the deposits of Frontier Bank.

The 51 branches of Frontier Bank will reopen during normal business hours as branches of Union Bank, N.A. Depositors of Frontier Bank will automatically become depositors of Union Bank, N.A. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former Frontier Bank branch until they receive notice from Union Bank, N.A. that it has completed systems changes to allow other Union Bank, N.A. branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Frontier Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Frontier Bank had approximately $3.50 billion in total assets and $3.13 billion in total deposits. Union Bank, N.A. did not pay the FDIC a premium to assume all of the deposits of Frontier Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Union Bank, N.A. agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Union Bank, N.A. entered into a loss-share transaction on $3.04 billion of Frontier Bank's assets. Union Bank, N.A. will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-823-4939. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., PDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. PDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., PDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/frontier.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $1.37 billion. Union Bank, N.A.'s acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Frontier Bank is the 64th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the sixth in Washington. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was City Bank, Lynnwood, on April 16, 2010.

BC National Banks, Butler, Missouri, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Community First Bank, Butler, Missouri, to assume all of the deposits of BC National Banks.

The four branches of BC National Banks will reopen on Saturday as branches of Community First Bank. Depositors of BC National Banks will automatically become depositors of Community First Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former BC National Banks branch until they receive notice from Community First Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Community First Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of BC National Banks can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, BC National Banks had approximately $67.2 million in total assets and $54.9 million in total deposits. Community First Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium to assume all of the deposits of BC National Banks. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Community First Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Community First Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $37.9 million of BC National Banks' assets. Community First Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-894-2013. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/bc-natl.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $11.4 million. Community First Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. BC National Banks is the 63rd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Missouri. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Champion Bank, Creve Coeur, earlier today.

Champion Bank, Creve Coeur, Missouri, was closed today by the Missouri Division of Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with BankLiberty, Liberty, Missouri, to assume all of the deposits of Champion Bank.

The sole branch of Champion Bank will reopen on Saturday as a branch of BankLiberty. Depositors of Champion Bank will automatically become depositors of BankLiberty. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former Champion Bank branch until they receive notice from BankLiberty that it has completed systems changes to allow other BankLiberty branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Champion Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Champion Bank had approximately $187.3 million in total assets and $153.8 million in total deposits. BankLiberty did not pay the FDIC a premium to assume all of the deposits of Champion Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, BankLiberty agreed to purchase approximately $152.6 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and BankLiberty entered into a loss-share transaction on $113.5 million of Champion Bank's assets. BankLiberty will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-640-2607. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/champion.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $52.7 million. BankLiberty's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Champion Bank is the 62nd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the second in Missouri. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Bank of Leeton, Leeton, on January 22, 2010.

CF Bancorp, Port Huron, Michigan, was closed today by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Michigan Bank, Troy, Michigan, to assume all of the deposits of CF Bancorp.

The 22 branches of CF Bancorp will reopen during normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of First Michigan Bank. Depositors of CF Bancorp will automatically become depositors of First Michigan Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former CF Bancorp branch until they receive notice from First Michigan Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other First Michigan Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of CF Bancorp can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, CF Bancorp had approximately $1.65 billion in total assets and $1.43 billion in total deposits. First Michigan Bank paid the FDIC a premium of 0.75 percent to assume all of the deposits of CF Bancorp. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, First Michigan Bank agreed to purchase approximately $870 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and First Michigan Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $808.1 million of CF Bancorp's assets. First Michigan Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-895-3212. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (EDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., EDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. EDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., EDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/cfbancorp.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $615.3 million. First Michigan Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. CF Bancorp is the 61st FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the second in Michigan. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Lakeside Community Bank, Sterling Heights, on April 16, 2010.

Westernbank Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, was closed today by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to assume all of the deposits of Westernbank Puerto Rico.

The 46 branches of Westernbank Puerto Rico will reopen during normal business hours as branches of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico. Depositors of Westernbank Puerto Rico will automatically become depositors of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former Westernbank Puerto Rico branch until they receive notice from Banco Popular de Puerto Rico that it has completed systems changes to allow other Banco Popular de Puerto Rico branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Westernbank Puerto Rico can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Westernbank Puerto Rico had approximately $11.94 billion in total assets and $8.62 billion in total deposits. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico did not pay the FDIC a premium to assume all of the deposits of Westernbank Puerto Rico. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico agreed to purchase approximately $9.39 billion of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and Banco Popular de Puerto Rico entered into a loss-share transaction on $8.77 billion of Westernbank Puerto Rico's assets. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2909. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Atlantic Standard Time (AST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., AST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. AST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., AST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/westernbank-puertorico.html or http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/westernbank-puertorico_spanish.html.

The FDIC encourages all bank customers to review more information about the transaction by visiting www.fdicseguro.gov.

As part of this transaction, the FDIC will acquire a value appreciation instrument. This instrument serves as additional consideration for the transaction.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $3.31 billion. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Westernbank Puerto Rico is the 60th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year. Western Bank was one of three institutions closed in Puerto Rico today.

R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, was closed today by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Scotiabank de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to assume all of the deposits of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico.

The 29 branches of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico will reopen during normal business hours as branches of Scotiabank de Puerto Rico. Depositors of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico will automatically become depositors of Scotiabank de Puerto Rico. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico branch until they receive notice from Scotiabank de Puerto Rico that it has completed systems changes to allow other Scotiabank de Puerto Rico branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico had approximately $5.92 billion in total assets and $4.25 billion in total deposits. Scotiabank de Puerto Rico paid the FDIC a premium of 1.35 percent to assume all of the deposits of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Scotiabank de Puerto Rico agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Scotiabank de Puerto Rico entered into a loss-share transaction on $5.41 billion of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico's assets. Scotiabank de Puerto Rico will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2904. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Atlantic Standard Time (AST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., AST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. AST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., AST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/r-gpremier-puertorico.html or http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/r-gpremier-puertorico_spanish.html.

The FDIC encourages all bank customers to review more information about the transaction by visiting www.fdicseguro.gov.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $1.23 billion. Scotiabank de Puerto Rico's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico is the 59th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year. R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico is one of three institutions closed in Puerto Rico today.

Eurobank, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was closed today by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Oriental Bank and Trust, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to assume all of the deposits of Eurobank.

The 22 branches of Eurobank will reopen during normal business hours as branches of Oriental Bank and Trust. Depositors of Eurobank will automatically become depositors of Oriental Bank and Trust. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their former Eurobank branch until they receive notice from Oriental Bank and Trust that it has completed systems changes to allow other Oriental Bank and Trust branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Eurobank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Eurobank had approximately $2.56 billion in total assets and $1.97 billion in total deposits. Oriental Bank and Trust paid the FDIC a premium of 1.25 percent to assume all of the deposits of Eurobank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Oriental Bank and Trust agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Oriental Bank and Trust entered into a loss-share transaction on $1.58 billion of Eurobank's assets. Oriental Bank and Trust will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2903. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Atlantic Standard Time (AST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., AST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. AST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., AST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/eurobank-puertorico.html or http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/eurobank-puertorico_spanish.html.

The FDIC encourages all bank customers to review more information about the transaction by visiting www.fdicseguro.gov.

As part of this transaction, the FDIC will acquire a value appreciation instrument. This instrument serves as additional consideration for the transaction.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $743.9 million. Oriental Bank and Trust's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Eurobank is the 58th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year. Eurobank is one of three institutions closed in Puerto Rico today.

Mother Hubbard: Now phosphorous production that has reached a peak and will decline and cause problems because there is no handy substitute. Look, we're running out of everything and not doing real good at finding substitutes. Extraction industries follow a curve - ramp up, peak and then dwindle away – so could we stop with all the 'peak' this and 'peak' that? It has lost its dramatic impact. Just assume that we’re running out of everything.

Ceara Sturgis with her motherMississippi high schools sure do seem to have a lesbian problem. First there was Constance McMillen, the student whose school first canceled their prom rather than let McMillen and her female date attend and then later sent McMillen to a fake prom.

And now there's Ceara Sturgis, a student at Mississippi's Wesson Attendance Center who was literally omitted from her senior yearbook's portrait pages - her name didn't even make it in - because of who she is.

When Veronica Rodriguez opened Wesson Attendance Center's Yearbook on Friday, she didn't see her lesbian daughter Ceara Sturgis pictured or named in the senior-portrait section of the yearbook. The latest blow came after a long battle with school officials to include a photo of her daughter wearing a tuxedo in the school's 2010 yearbook.

...Sturgis and her mother commissioned the Mississippi ACLU to protest officials' October 2009 decision not to allow Sturgis' photo to appear in the senior yearbook because she chose to wear a tuxedo instead of a dress. The ACLU wrote an October letter demanding officials use Sturgis' submitted photo in the yearbook, but Copiah County School District officials refused. Still, Rodriguez said she expected her daughter to at least be named on the senior page, perhaps with a "photo unavailable" box. What she discovered on Friday, when the yearbook came in, was that the school had refused to acknowledge her entirely on the senior pages.

So they literally erased her from the high school's existence. Incredible. You know, it used to be that folks would chalk things like this up to "ignorance." But this isn't ignorance, it's hatred - and the malicious targeting of young people makes it especially disgusting.

NEW ORLEANS — Coast Guard officials were investigating reports early Friday morning that oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico had washed ashore overnight, threatening fisheries and wildlife in fragile marshes and islands along the Gulf Coast.

Officials had not confirmed whether any tentacles of the oil slick had actually touched land, but Petty Officer Shawn Eggert of the Coast Guard said officials were planning a flyover Friday morning to assess how the oil was moving and whether it was making landfall.

The choppy seas and forecast of storms were anything but ideal for cleanup efforts on Friday as winds were directing the oil slick towards the coastline. According to Ken Graham, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in New Orleans, strong southeasterly winds were ranging from 20 to 25 miles an hour and showers and thunderstorms were forecast through Monday morning.

A senior adviser to President Obama said Friday that the government would not allow any new offshore drilling until an investigation was conducted into the spill and whether it could have been prevented. The deadly explosion on an offshore oil rig last week and the resulting spill have complicated Mr. Obama’s recently announced plans to expand offshore oil and gas drilling, with some politicians and environmental advocates calling on the president to halt any planned expansions until more safeguards are put into place against future disasters.

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” David Axelrod, the senior adviser, said that “no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here.” But his announcement would not have any immediate effect because drilling in newly opened areas was not likely to take place for years.

As the oil crept closer to shore Thursday, the response to the spill intensified, with the federal government intervening more aggressively.

On Friday morning, the Air Force sent two -130 planes to Mississippi, where they awaited orders to start spraying chemicals on the spill, The Associated Press reported.

Resources from the United States Navy have been marshaled to supplement an operation that already consisted of more than 1,000 people and scores of vessels and aircraft.

Calling it “a spill of national significance” that could threaten coastline in several states, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the creation of a second command post in Mobile, Ala., in addition to the one in Louisiana, to manage potential coastal impact in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered an immediate review of the 30 offshore drilling rigs and 47 production platforms operating in the deepwater Gulf, and is sending teams to conduct on-site inspections.

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declared a state of emergency and to request the participation of the National Guard in response efforts.

A coastal flood warning was issued for Hancock County, the furthest county west in Mississippi, while coastal flood watches were set up in nearby Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes in Louisiana since tides were expected to be two to three feet higher than normal. About 40,000 feet of boom had been placed around Pass-a-Loutre, the area of the Mississippi River Delta where the oil was expected to touch first, a spokesman for Mr. Jindal said.

The Navy provided 50 contractors, 7 skimming systems and 66,000 feet of inflatable containment boom, a spokesman said. About 210,000 feet of boom had been laid down to protect the shoreline in several places along the Gulf Coast, though experts said that marshlands presented a far more daunting cleaning challenge than sandy beaches.

Eight days after the first explosion on the rig, which left 11 workers missing and presumed dead, the tenor of the response team’s briefings changed abruptly Wednesday night with a hastily called news conference to announce that the rate of the spill was estimated to be 5,000 barrels a day, or more than 200,000 gallons — five times the previous estimate. By Thursday, it was apparent that the cleanup operation desperately needed help, with no indication that the well would be sealed any time soon and oil drifting closer to shore.

The response effort has been driven by BP, the company that was leasing the rig and is responsible for the cleanup, under the oversight of the Coast Guard and in consultation with the Minerals Management Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While additional federal resources, including naval support, were available before Wednesday, officials had given little indication that such reinforcements would be deployed so quickly and at such a scale.

“Some of it existed from the start,” Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry of the Coast Guard, the federal on-scene coordinator, said of the federal resources. “We can ramp it up as we need it.”

Referring to what she called “dynamic tension” among the participants in a spill response, Admiral Landry said it was her duty to ensure that BP was trying every approach available.

“If BP does not request these resources, then I can and I will,” she said.

Asked whether the Coast Guard had confidence in BP’s efforts, Admiral Landry said, “BP, from Day 1, has attempted to be very responsive and be a very responsible spiller.”

BP, in turn, has pointed out on more than one occasion that Transocean owned the oil rig and the blowout preventer, a device that apparently failed to function properly and that is continuing to be the most significant obstacle to stopping the spill.

Underscoring how acute the situation has become, BP is soliciting ideas and techniques from four other major oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and Anadarko. BP officials have also requested help from the Defense Department in efforts to activate the blowout preventer, a stack of hydraulically activated valves at the top of the well that is designed to seal it off in the event of a sudden pressure release.

Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP, said the company had asked the military for better imaging technology and more advanced remotely operated vehicles. As of now, there are six such vehicles monitoring or trying to fix the blowout preventer, which sits on the sea floor.

“To be frank, the offer of help from all quarters is welcome,” said David Nicholas, a BP spokesman.

But Norman Polmar, an expert on military systems, said the robotic submersibles used by the oil industry were better equipped to try to stop the oil leak than any of the Navy’s minisubs. The Navy’s unmanned subs have cameras and can retrieve bits of hardware, he said, but are not designed to plug a hole in a pipe or do repair work.

Other efforts to contain the spill included a tactic that Admiral Landry called “absolutely novel”: crews awaited approval on Thursday night to begin deploying chemical dispersants underwater near the source of the leaks. Aircraft have dropped nearly 100,000 gallons of the dispersants on the water’s surface to break down the oil, a more conventional strategy.

BP is also designing and building large boxlike structures that could be lowered over the leaks in the riser, the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connected the well to the rig and has since become detached and is snaking along the sea floor. The structures would contain the leaking oil and route it to the surface to be collected. This temporary solution could take several weeks to execute.

Mr. Suttles said three such structures were being prepared, one of which is complete and could corral the worst of the leaks. But citing the disclosure of the new leak on Wednesday night, experts said more were certainly possible.

“All that movement is going to continue to stress and fatigue the pipe and create more leaks,” said Jeffrey Short, Pacific science director for Oceana and former chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who helped clean the spill from the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

“This is not on a good trajectory,” he added.

The next solution is drilling relief wells that would allow crews to plug the gushing cavity with mud, concrete or other heavy liquid. The drilling of one such well is expected to begin in the next 48 hours, Mr. Suttles said, but it could be three months before the leak is plugged by this method.

The legal and political dimensions of the oil spill spread as well on Thursday, with lawyers filing suits on behalf of commercial fishermen, shrimpers and injured workers against BP; Transocean; Cameron, the company that manufactured the blowout preventer; and other companies involved in the drilling process, including Halliburton.

Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, has asked the heads of major oil companies, including BP, to testify at a hearing about the spill.

Opponents of President Obama’s plan to expand offshore drilling have also called for a halt. Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, called Thursday for a moratorium on all new offshore oil exploration while the cause of this rig explosion is under investigation. Mr. Nelson, a longtime opponent of oil drilling off the coasts of Florida, said in a letter to Mr. Obama that the spreading oil spill threatened environmental and economic disaster all along the Gulf Coast.

Administration officials stressed that the president’s offshore drilling plan was the beginning of a lengthy review process and did not mean that large new areas would see immediate oil and gas activity. They also said that they expected that members of Congress and the public would have new questions about the safety of offshore operations and that the administration would rethink its commitment to offshore drilling in light of the accident.

“That is the beginning of a process,” said Carol M. Browner, the White House coordinator of energy and climate policy. “What is occurring now will also be taken into consideration.”

So, The Church, faced with the largest world-wide crisis since The Reformation still goes on and on about "Gay Marriage" -- what a bunch of tools!

This from Pharyngula -- go to original to read the rest:

Catholic priorities

Category: Equality

John C. Nienstedt is the Archbishop of the Diocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which makes him the ranking Catholic god-botherer in the region, I guess. We're supposed to call him "Most Reverend" — priests are really good at attaching laudatory titles to themselves — but I won't be doing that, ever. "Most Intolerant," maybe, or "Most Boneheaded".

Anyway, he has an op-ed in the Star Tribune. The Catholic Church is facing some rough times right now, with declining attendance, a dearth of priests, and a scary percentage of the people willing to become priests being clearly socially and sexually dysfunctional, so you'd expect him to write something about the real problems the Catholics are grappling with right now, doing something to bolster the flagging reputation of the priesthood. And I guess he thought he did: he wrote about gay marriage.

The enormity of the Gulf oil spill is finally penetrating the veil of stupidity that seems to surround much of our bought and paid for Media. Our CONSERVATIVE MEDIA, owned by huge corporations like GE can't ignore this one. It could destroy fishing, wetlands, on the entire Gulf Coast. The impact could well ruin one of the most prolific fisheries left.

Gulf Coast oil spill could eclipse Exxon Valdez

Apr 29, 11:42 PM (ET)

By CAIN BURDEAU and HOLBROOK MOHR

VENICE, La. (AP) - An oil spill that threatened to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez disaster spread out of control with a faint sheen washing ashore along the Gulf Coast Thursday night as fishermen rushed to scoop up shrimp and crews spread floating barriers around marshes.

The spill was bigger than imagined - five times more than first estimated - and closer. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines.

"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life. Thicker oil was in waters south and east of the Mississippi delta about five miles offshore.

The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among many in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina. President Barack Obama dispatched Cabinet officials to deal with the crisis.

Cade Thomas, a fishing guide in Venice, worried that his livelihood will be destroyed. He said he did not know whether to blame the Coast Guard, the federal government or oil company BP PLC. (BP.)

"They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels when I think they knew it was more. And they weren't proactive," he said. "As soon as it blew up, they should have started wrapping it with booms."

The Coast Guard worked with BP, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, to deploy floating booms, skimmers and chemical dispersants, and set controlled fires to burn the oil off the water's surface.

The company has requested more resources from the Defense Department, especially underwater equipment that might be better than what is commercially available. A BP executive said the corporation would "take help from anyone."

(AP) An oil containment boom is deployed behind Coast Guard Island near South Pass, La., Thursday, April...Full ImageGovernment officials said the blown-out well 40 miles offshore is spewing five times as much oil into the water as originally estimated - about 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, a day.

At that rate, the spill could eclipse the worst oil spill in U.S. history - the 11 million gallons that leaked from the grounded tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 - in the three months it could take to drill a relief well and plug the gushing well 5,000 feet underwater on the sea floor.

Ultimately, the spill could grow much larger than the Valdez because Gulf of Mexico wells tap deposits that hold many times more oil than a single tanker.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP Exploration and Production, had initially disputed the government's larger estimate. But he later acknowledged on NBC's "Today" show that the leak may be as bad as federal officials say. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed, so estimates have to come from how much oil rises to the surface.

Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.

"You're pumping out a massive amount of oil. There is no way to stop it," he said.

An emergency shrimping season was opened to allow shrimpers to scoop up their catch before it is fouled by oil. And shrimpers were being lined up to use their boats as makeshift skimmers in the shallows.

This murky water and the oysters in it have provided a livelihood for three generations of Frank and Mitch Jurisich's family in Empire, La.

Now, on the open water just beyond the marshes, they can smell the oil that threatens everything they know and love.

"Just smelling it, it puts more of a sense of urgency, a sense of fear," Frank Jurisich said.

The brothers hope to get all the oysters they can sell before the oil washes ashore. They filled more than 100 burlap sacks Thursday and stopped to eat some oysters. "This might be our last day," Mitch Jurisich said.

Without the fishing industry, Frank Jurisich said the family "would be lost. This is who we are and what we do."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Thursday so officials could begin preparing for the oil's impact. He said at least 10 wildlife management areas and refuges in his state and neighboring Mississippi are in the oil plume's path.

The declaration also noted that billions of dollars have been invested in coastal restoration projects that may be at risk. He also asked the federal government if he could call up 6,000 National Guard troops to help.

As dawn broke Thursday in the oil industry hub of Venice, about 75 miles from New Orleans and not far from the mouth of the Mississippi River, crews loaded an orange oil boom aboard a supply boat at Bud's Boat Launch. There, local officials expressed frustration with the pace of the government's response and the communication they were getting from the Coast Guard and BP officials.

"We're not doing everything we can do," said Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, which straddles the Mississippi River at the tip of Louisiana.

Tension was growing in towns like Port Sulphur and Empire along Louisiana Highway 23, which runs south of New Orleans along the Mississippi River into prime oyster and shrimping waters.

Companies like Chevron and ConocoPhillips have facilities nearby, and some residents are hesitant to criticize BP or the federal government, knowing the oil industry is as much a staple here as fishing.

"I don't think there's a lot of blame going around here. People are just concerned about their livelihoods," said Sullivan Vullo, who owns La Casa Cafe in Port Sulphur.

A federal class-action lawsuit was filed late Wednesday on behalf of two commercial shrimpers from Louisiana, Acy J. Cooper Jr. and Ronnie Louis Anderson.

The suit seeks at least $5 million in compensatory damages plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages against Transocean, BP, Halliburton Energy Services Inc. and Cameron International Corp.

In Buras, La., where Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, the owner of the Black Velvet Oyster Bar & Grill couldn't keep his eyes off the television. News and weather shows were making projections that oil would soon inundate the coastal wetlands where his family has worked since the 1860s.

It was as though a hurricane was approaching, maybe worse.

"A hurricane is like closing your bank account for a few days, but this here has the capacity to destroy our bank accounts," said Byron Marinovitch, 47.

Signs of the 2005 hurricane are still apparent here: There are schools, homes, churches and restaurants operating out of trailers, and across from Marinovitch's bar is a wood frame house abandoned since the storm.

A fleet of boats working under an oil industry consortium has been using booms to corral and then skim oil from the surface.

BP conducted a test burn on Wednesday, but abandoned a plan to set fire to more oil after weather conditions deteriorated. The attempt to burn some of the oil came after crews operating submersible robots failed to activate a shut-off device that would halt the flow.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was briefed Thursday on the issue, said his spokesman, Capt. John Kirby. But Kirby said the Defense Department has received no request for help, nor is it doing any detailed planning for any mission on the oil spill.

Obama dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson to help with the spill. The president said the White House would use "every single available resource" to respond.

Obama has directed officials to aggressively confront the spill, but the cost of the cleanup will fall on BP, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Wheatland Bank, Naperville, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Wheaton Bank & Trust, Wheaton, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Wheatland Bank.

The sole branch of Wheatland Bank will reopen on Saturday as a branch of Wheaton Bank & Trust. Depositors of Wheatland Bank will automatically become depositors of Wheaton Bank & Trust. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Wheaton Bank & Trust that it has completed systems changes to allow other Wheaton Bank & Trust branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Wheatland Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Wheatland Bank had approximately $437.2 million in total assets and $438.5 million in total deposits. Wheaton Bank & Trust will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.4 percent to assume all of the deposits of Wheatland Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Wheaton Bank & Trust agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Wheaton Bank & Trust entered into a loss-share transaction on $300.2 million of Wheatland Bank's assets. Wheaton Bank & Trust will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-517-1846. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/wheatland.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $133.0 million. Wheaton Bank & Trust's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Wheatland Bank is the 57th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the tenth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Peotone Bank and Trust Company, Peotone, earlier today.

Peotone Bank and Trust Company, Peotone, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Midwest Bank, Itasca, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Peotone Bank and Trust Company.

The two branches of Peotone Bank and Trust Company will reopen on Saturday as branches of First Midwest Bank. Depositors of Peotone Bank and Trust Company will automatically become depositors of First Midwest Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from First Midwest Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other First Midwest Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Peotone Bank and Trust Company can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Peotone Bank and Trust Company had approximately $130.2 million in total assets and $127.0 million in total deposits. First Midwest Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 1.0 percent to assume all of the deposits of Peotone Bank and Trust Company. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, First Midwest Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and First Midwest Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $57.5 million of Peotone Bank and Trust Company's assets. First Midwest Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-517-1839. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/peotone.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $31.7 million. First Midwest Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Peotone Bank and Trust Company is the 56th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the ninth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park Savings Bank, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Northbrook Bank and Trust Company, Northbrook, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Lincoln Park Savings Bank.

The four branches of Lincoln Park Savings Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Northbrook Bank and Trust Company. Depositors of Lincoln Park Savings Bank will automatically become depositors of Northbrook Bank and Trust Company. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Northbrook Bank and Trust Company that it has completed systems changes to allow other Northbrook Bank and Trust Company branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Lincoln Park Savings Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Lincoln Park Savings Bank had approximately $199.9 million in total assets and $171.5 million in total deposits. Northbrook Bank and Trust Company will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.4 percent to assume all of the deposits of Lincoln Park Savings Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Northbrook Bank and Trust Company agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Northbrook Bank and Trust Company entered into a loss-share transaction on $141.5 million of Lincoln Park Savings Bank's assets. Northbrook Bank and Trust Company will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-357-7599. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lincoln-park.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $48.4 million. Northbrook Bank and Trust Company's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Lincoln Park Savings Bank is the 55th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the eighth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was New Century Bank, Chicago, earlier today.

New Century Bank, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with MB Financial Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of New Century Bank.

The three branches of New Century Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of MB Financial Bank, National Association. Depositors of New Century Bank will automatically become depositors of MB Financial Bank, National Association. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from MB Financial Bank, National Association that it has completed systems changes to allow other MB Financial Bank, National Association branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of New Century Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, New Century Bank had approximately $485.6 million in total assets and $492.0 million in total deposits. MB Financial Bank, National Association did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of New Century Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, MB Financial Bank, National Association agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and MB Financial Bank, National Association entered into a loss-share transaction on $429.1 million of New Century Bank's assets. MB Financial Bank, National Association will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-883-4390. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/new-century-il.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $125.3 million. MB Financial Bank, National Association's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. New Century Bank is the 54th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the seventh in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago, Chicago, earlier today.

Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Republic Bank of Chicago, Oak Brook, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago.

The sole branch of Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago will reopen on Saturday as a branch of Republic Bank of Chicago. Depositors of Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago will automatically become depositors of Republic Bank of Chicago. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Republic Bank of Chicago that it has completed systems changes to allow other Republic Bank of Chicago branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago had approximately $77.3 million in total assets and $74.5 million in total deposits. Republic Bank of Chicago will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.00013 percent to assume all of the deposits of Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago. The FDIC as receiver will retain most of the assets from Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago for later disposition.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-823-5017. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/citizens-bank.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $20.9 million. Republic Bank of Chicago's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Citizens Bank&Trust Company of Chicago is the 53rd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the sixth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Broadway Bank, Chicago, earlier today.

Broadway Bank, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with MB Financial Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Broadway Bank.

The four branches of Broadway Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of MB Financial Bank, National Association. Depositors of Broadway Bank will automatically become depositors of MB Financial Bank, National Association. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from MB Financial Bank, National Association that it has completed systems changes to allow other MB Financial Bank, National Association branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Broadway Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Broadway Bank had approximately $1.2 billion in total assets and $1.1 billion in total deposits. MB Financial Bank, National Association did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of Broadway Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, MB Financial Bank, National Association agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and MB Financial Bank, National Association entered into a loss-share transaction on $878.4 million of Broadway Bank's assets. MB Financial Bank, National Association will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-887-7340. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/broadway.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $394.3 million. MB Financial Bank, National Association's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Broadway Bank is the 52nd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the fifth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Amcore Bank, National Association, Rockford, earlier today.

Amcore Bank, National Association, Rockford, Illinois, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Harris National Association, Chicago, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Amcore Bank, National Association.

The 58 branches of Amcore Bank, National Association will reopen on Saturday as branches of Harris National Association. Depositors of Amcore Bank, National Association will automatically become depositors of Harris National Association. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Harris National Association that it has completed systems changes to allow other Harris National Association branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Amcore Bank, National Association can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, Amcore Bank, National Association had approximately $3.8 billion in total assets and $3.4 billion in total deposits. Harris National Association will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.01 percent to assume all of the deposits of Amcore Bank, National Association. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Harris National Association agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Harris National Association entered into a loss-share transaction on $2.0 billion of Amcore Bank, National Association's assets. Harris National Association will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2767. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/amcore.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $220.3 million. Harris National Association's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Amcore Bank, National Association is the 51st FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the fourth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Bank of Illinois, Normal, on March 3, 2010.

Wait a minute -- the "Tea Party" folks (also known as "Teabaggers"), want smaller gov't, no safety net (except for THEIR Medicare), less "waste" (AKA - money spent on OTHER people).

Some have suggested natural born U.S. citizens who happen to be born to illegal aliens be stripped of their citizenship and deported (I happen to know some 80 year old folks who are in that situation. Their folks, long dead, never legalized themselves -- should we throw them out also? After all, as Duncan Hunter the Younger said -- their "souls" are not "American".).

Amazing that the party allegedly for less government intrusion in our lives finds no problem spearheading this kind of heinous legislation:

Oklahoma just passed the country's strictest law on pre-abortion ultrasounds, along with another law that basically allows doctors to lie to pregnant women.

According to James McKiley Jr. of the Times, the Oklahoma legislature voted today to overturn vetoes of both laws. The first, a similar form of which was struck down by Oklahoma courts last year, requires "a doctor or technician to set up the monitor where the woman can see it and describe the heart, limbs and organs of the fetus. No exceptions are made for rape and incest victims." This is already invasive — Dionne Scott of the Center for Reproductive Rights calls it "the most extreme ultrasound requirement in the country."

The second law, however, is even more disturbing. Basically, it protects doctors from being sued if they decide not to tell patients that their fetus has birth defects. Writes McKinley, "The intent of the bill is to prevent parents from later suing doctors who withhold information to try to influence them against having an abortion."

Just take a minute to digest that. In Oklahoma, it's now legal to keep health information from patients in order to make their reproductive decisions for them. Of course, the doctors who perform prenatal tests won't be raising the children born to the prospective parents they treat. And yet those doctors can have a say — through subterfuge — in whether those parents choose to give birth or not. Now that this has passed, it's tempting to wonder what information Oklahoma doctors will get to lie about next. Perhaps they could tell teen girls that condoms spread AIDS. Or maybe just convince women that they're not actually pregnant until it's too late for an abortion. The possibilities are endless!

All in the deluded notion that somehow they are saving innocent potential babies, they are forcing actual living, breathing American citizens to submit without choice an invasive procedure before she can exercise her legal right to determine what she wants to do with her body. And no exception for rape or incest. It's victimizing those women all over again.

The Center for Reproductive Rights promises a fight.

“It is extremely disappointing that the Oklahoma legislature insists on passing a law that is so clearly unconstitutional and so detrimental to women in the state,” said Stephanie Toti, staff attorney in the U.S. Legal Program of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The state has already spent the last two years defending this abortion restriction and several others—without success. Another round in the courts won’t change our strong constitutional claims against the law, it will only waste more of Oklahoma taxpayers’ time and money.”

The Center argues that the ultrasound requirement profoundly intrudes upon a patient’s privacy and is the most extreme ultrasound law in the country. The law forces a woman to hear information that she may not want to hear and that may not be relevant to her medical care. It also dangerously discounts her abilities to make healthy decisions about her own life by forcing her to hear information when she's objected. In addition, the statute interferes with the doctor-patient relationship—potentially damaging it—by compelling doctors to deliver unwanted speech

An oil platform exploded. 11 people were lost. They reported a large oil leak. 1000 barrels per day -- or about 42,000 gallons per day.

NOW, it's being reported the leak is about FIVE (5) times as large -- about 210,000 gallons per day.

There is very little reporting on this -- an article here, another there. There is no hue and cry. No demands to stop the proposed drilling.

There seem to be no comments from the "drill baby drill" folks. I guess it's similar to the idea you have to "break a few eggs to make an omelet" -- except here, you have to destroy a planet to ensure there's "enough" energy. Where we will live never seems to be mentioned by these "warriors".

An oil spill of this sort will affect the Gulf for MANY years.

Back when I was a kid, there was a fairly small spill in the Long Island Sound -- near Riverhead, around near Roanoke Point. It covered much of the bottom, sank into the sand, and covered many rocks. It affected swiming for a couple of years, and affected fishing for over five years. A lot of clam beds were lost, habitat was lost, many species never fully recovered in that area.

That was a small spill. I do not care what biologists paid by the oil companies will say -- the Gulf Coast will be affected for quite a few years.

They were the "CONSERVATIVE" Legionaries of Christ. I guess that means they wanted everything The Church stood for to remain the same. Let's see --- antisemitism, misogyny, homophobia, and the traditional prerogative of priests -- RAPING CHILDREN.

VATICAN CITY – The No. 2 official in the conservative Legionaries of Christ order has broken his silence on revelations that the group's founder had fathered children and abused seminarians, giving an interview on the eve of a Vatican meeting to discuss the order's fate.

The Rev. Luis Garza Medina told Rome's La Repubblica newspaper Thursday that he did not know before 2006 that founder Rev. Marcial Maciel had fathered a child. He also said cases of sexual abuse by priests should be referred to civil law enforcement.

On Friday, five Vatican experts are to discuss their investigation into the order with the Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Bertone ordered the probe in 2009 after the Legionaries acknowledged that Maciel had fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and lives in Spain.

The case against Maciel is being closely watched as the Vatican struggles to show that it is serious about rooting out clerical sex abuse and being more transparent. The Maciel case has long been seen as emblematic of Vatican inaction on abuse complaints, since sex abuse victims had tried in the 1990s to bring a canonical trial against Maciel but were shut down by his supporters at the Vatican.

Only in March of this year did the Legionaries acknowledge that Maciel had also sexually abused seminarians and that two men are claiming to be his sons. One of those men has asked the Legionaries for $26 million and says Maciel had promised him and his two brothers a trust fund when he died as financial compensation for the alleged sexual abuse they endured at Maciel's hands. The third son was adopted.

Maciel died in 2008 at age 87.

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, has said no decisions on the order are expected after Friday's meeting, although a statement will be issued. Pope Benedict XVI, he said, will make the final decision on the order's future after studying the case.

The Legion, founded in Mexico, claims a membership of more than 800 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 22 countries, along with 70,000 members in its lay arm, Regnum Christi. It runs schools, charities, Catholic news outlets, seminaries for young boys, and universities in Mexico, Italy, Spain and elsewhere. Its U.S. headquarters are in Orange, Connecticut.

The revelations of Maciel's double life raised many questions that the Legion still hasn't publicly answered, including whether any current leaders covered up Maciel's misdeeds and whether any donations were used to facilitate the sexual misconduct or pay its victims.

Garza Medina said he only realized the accusations surrounding Maciel were true in 2006, when the Vatican sentenced Maciel to a "reserved life of penance and prayer."

"It seemed impossible, the behavior of the founder seemed impeccable," Garza Medina told La Repubblica. "With the investigation finished, I verified the paternity that was attributed to Father Maciel; at which point it was clear that the accusations were well-founded."

Asked how even Maciel's closest advisers — including himself — could have been kept in the dark, the Legionaries' vicar general said: "It was difficult to understand that there were such immoral and aberrant actions on his part."

While the Vatican issued its sentence in 2006, neither the Vatican nor the Legionaries have ever said everything that Maciel had done wrong.

Italian news reports say the most likely scenario for Benedict would be to appoint an external "commissioner" with full powers to run the order while reforms are enacted.

What becomes of the current leadership — in particular Garza Medina — is unclear. Veteran Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister recently wrote in Italian newsweekly L'Espresso that Garza Medina heads the holding company that acts as the treasury for the Legion, with assets totaling euro25 billion ($33 billion).

In the interview Thursday, Garza Medina laughed at the figure, saying such estimates were "false." He said any profits that are made are immediately reinvested or put in pensions or medical care funds for its members.

"In 2009, our activities in all the world produced about $40 million, which was reinvested," he said.

Jason Berry, co-author of the book and documentary "Vows of Silence," about victims' attempts to persuade the Vatican to discipline Maciel, said Garza Medina's acknowledgment that he was convinced of Maciel's crimes only in 2006 is problematic, since the order continued holding Maciel up as a role model until 2010.

"Why on earth would he allow a public statement to go out when Maciel had died saying he had gone to heaven?" Berry asked. "They did not apologize to the victims nor acknowledge that the abuse occurred until March of this year."

The Legion was founded in Mexico in 1941 and its culture was built around Maciel. His photo adorned every Legion building, his biography and writings were studied, and his birthday was celebrated as a feast day. Until recently, Legion members took a vow not to criticize their superiors, including Maciel.

Pope John Paul II had long championed the Legionaries for their orthodoxy and ability to bring in vocations and money.

The revelations of Maciel's double life caused enormous turmoil inside the Legionaries and its lay affiliate Regnum Christie, with priests leaving the order and Legion officials steadily announcing changes meant to demonstrate the movement is reforming

What happened to the global economy and what we can do about itWake The President

By Simon Johnson, co-author 13 Bankers

Most days we can coast along, confident that tomorrow will be much like yesterday. On a very few days we need to look hard at the news headlines, click through to read the whole story, and then completely change a large chunk of how we thought the world worked. Today is such a day.

Everything you knew or thought you believed about the European economy – and the eurozone, which lies at its heart – was just ripped up by financial markets and thrown out of the proverbial window.

While you slept, there was a fundamental repricing of risk in financial markets around Europe – we’ll see shortly about the rest of the world. You may see this called a “panic” and the term conveys the emotions involved, but do not be misled – this is not a flash in a pan; financial markets have taken a long hard view at the fiscal and banking realities in Europe. They have also looked long and hard into the eyes – and, they think, the souls – of politicians and policymakers, including in Washington this weekend.

The conclusion: large parts of Europe are no longer “investment grade” – they are more like “emerging markets”, meaning higher yield, more risky, and in the descriptive if overly evocative term: “junk”.

This is not now about Greece (with 2 year yields reported around 20 percent today) or Portugal (up 7 basis points) or even Spain (2 year yields up 27 basis points; wake up please) or even Italy (up 6 basis points). This is no longer about an IMF package for Greece or even ring fencing other weaker eurozone economies.

This is about the fundamental structure of the eurozone, about the ability and willingness of the international community to restructure government debt in an orderly manner, about the need for currency depreciation within (or across) the eurozone. It is presumably also about shared fiscal authority within the eurozone – i.e., who will support whom and on what basis?

It is also, crucially, about stabilizing the macroeconomic situation without resorting to more unconditional bailouts. Bankers are pounding tables all across Europe, demanding that governments buy out their position – or bring in the IMF to do the same. We again find ourselves approaching the point when the financial sector will scream: rescue us all or face global economic collapse.

The White House did not see this coming – and the Treasury’s attention was elsewhere. The idea that we can leave this to the Europeans to sort out is an idea of yesterday. Today is very different and much more scary.

President Obama is wide awake and working hard. Someone please tell him what is really going on.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010Bank Runs in Greece – Harbinger of Another Axis of Euromarket Risk?

Sometimes I can miss the blindingly obvious.

Like other observers of the widening sovereign debt crisis in Europe, we’ve commented on the fact that the big reason for Germany to work towards a rescue (more likely, the end game is a restructuring) of Greece and other Club Med members at risk is that its own banks, like those of France, are exposed if Greece defaults. Given that Eurobanks were thinly capitalized in the runup to the crisis and have recognized even fewer losses than their US counterparts, they are still fragile and vulnerable to systemic shocks. So the axis of contagion seemed to be through bank holdings of Greece sovereign debt (as well as having written CDS on Greek debt).

But we neglected to consider a more direct source of trouble, namely, that of bank runs in the countries at risk. John Mauldin’s latest newsletter tells us that is already underway in Greece:

Money is flying from Greek banks, which makes sense, as how can a bankrupt Greek government guarantee Greek bank deposits? I know that Greek bankers may have a different view, but Greek depositors are voting with their feet. And …it is not just Greece. It is fast becoming Portugal. And Spain is not far behind in my opinion.

Yves here. Despite all the noise about government debt defaults, the pattern in the Great Depression was selective default (war debt being the big favorite). However, this was also an era before bank deposit insurance was the norm for advanced economies. Moreover, Europeans may be even more quick trigger to pull funds out of banks, given that they have more direct experience of the fragility of governments (World War II memories, the implosion of Yugoslavia on its borders, the impact of general strikes). Recall that in the financial crisis, many US depositors were nervous about bank safety (witness how bank analysis service Institutional Risk Analyst offered a retail bank soundness product to cater to inquiries).

So we have a second potential axis of contagion, via impairment of banks in the Club Med countries themselves. That has the potential to affect:

1. Bondholders of banks in Club Med countries (witness the virtual shutdown of bond issuance in Europe)

2. Companies, whether domestic or foreign, who do business in Club Med countries (transactions are normally settled in local banks; finding banks both sides to a commercial deal will find acceptable may loom as a issue)

3. Most important, interbank markets

So far, the reaction to the Greece/Club Med crisis seems to be a generalized widening of risk premia (ex the US, where investors seem to believe the eurozone can implode without having any adverse impact here). We may start to see more differentiation, in particular, further widening in exposures that are arguably on the front lines, as the crisis grinds on.

About Me

I'm just another old woman who has had wide ranging interests for a long time,
These include fishing, shooting, reading, cooking, and all manner of (mostly) left wing politics.
Born and bred in New York - Queens, to be precise - I now live in Texas, another state that folks seem to attack (like N.Y.) without ever having been here.
I'm also a fan of most sports -- esp. baseball, esp. the New York Yankees.
Originally a New York Giants (baseball) fan, I was crushed when they moved. It took many years wandering in the wilderness before I returned to baseball. I's all Wade Boggs fault. When I watched that artist, my love for baseball resurfaced. Since he was then a Yankee -- it had to be the Yankees.
The Mets pretended they had spiritual ties to the old Brooklyn Dodgers - no Giant fan could go there.
I tried - couldn't do it.